Eva Mendes opens up about her acting hiatus after having kids with Ryan Gosling

(CNN) — Eva Mendes has opened up about her transition from actress to full-time mom to her kids with actor partner Ryan Gosling.

“It was like a no-brainer,” the “Hitch” star said in an interview aired on NBC’s “Today” show on Tuesday.

“I’m so lucky. And I was like, if I can have this time with my children – and I still work, I just didn’t act, because acting takes you on locations, it takes you away,” she continued.

“It was almost just like a non-verbal agreement that it was like, okay, he’s going to work and I’m going to work. I’m just going to work here,” Mendes added.

Mendes and Gosling reportedly met as co-stars on the set of the 2012 crime drama “The Place Beyond the Pines.”

The longtime couple have two daughters together.

Gosling, who himself stepped away from Hollywood for four years to spend time with Mendes and his children between 2018 and 2021, was nominated for an Academy Award for his supporting role as Ken in Greta Gerwig’s “Barbie” movie earlier this year.

“He went and he did his job. He just happens to be really good at his job. And he did it and he came home,” Mendes said.

In an Instagram post after Gosling’s Oscar nomination in January, Mendes commended the “completely original, hilarious, heartbreaking, now iconic character” he created, adding: “So beyond proud to be this Ken’s Barbie.”

After the night of the awards ceremony – during which Gosling brought his “Kenergy” to a new level in a performance of Oscar-nominated song “I’m Just Ken” – Mendes made a post on Instagram that contained clear instructions to her partner: “You took Ken all the way to the Oscar’s, RG. Now come home, we need to put the kids to bed.”

Speaking about that moment, she said, “Because that’s what it’s about. You go, you do your job the best you can and then you come home.”

Mendes’ last onscreen acting project was in 2014, when she co-starred in fantasy-mystery film “Lost River,” written and directed by Gosling.

In 2022, she made it clear in an Instagram post that she “never quit acting,” but rather, “I wanted to be home with my babies and fortunately my other business ventures allowed me to do that more than acting would.”

Mendes said in the post that she “was not excited about the stereotypical roles being offered” to her, adding that “Lost River” was “a dream project” and “a tough act to follow.”

She has since voice-acted in the ABC Kids series “Bluey” and will feature in the celebrity YouTube series “Bluey Book Reads” in May, according to the Bluey website.

In February, Mendes shared on Instagram that being the mother of her two little girls had inspired her to write her debut picture book, “Desi, Mami, and the Never-Ending Worries,” which will be available in English and Spanish from September 17.

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